A Visit to Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort!

Splash back to the 1950’s and 60’s for endless family fun at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort. From the moment you arrive, you will be taken back to the iconic beach resorts of the era. With a hip, vintage look, the resort offers 1,800 on-site rooms – including 900 family suites and 900 standard guest rooms.

Located across the street from Universal Orlando Resort, this resort features free Wi-Fi and exclusive early admission to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for guests who buy park tickets. A free shuttle service is available throughout the property. Guests can relax at 2 zero-entry pools at this beach-themed resort or can float down a lazy river, relax on the sandy beach or go down the water slide. A 10-lane bowling alley, fitness center, and game room are also available on site.

All rooms at Universal’s Cabana Bay Resort feature a 40-inch flat-screen cable TV. Coffee-making facilities are also provided. The rooms are basic but colorful. Guests can stay in traditional or poolside rooms as well as spacious family suites, which include kitchenettes.

Here’s how it breaks down..

315 Courtyard family suites (North Courtyard)

285 Courtyard family suites poolside (North Courtyard)

176 Tower family suites (South Courtyard)

124 Tower family suites poolside (South Courtyard)

528 standard rooms (South Courtyard)

372 standard rooms poolside (South Courtyard)

50% of rooms are connecting

I also want to add that poolside is not necessarily pool view!

Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort makes it easy for guests to dine in or take out. The food court serves burgers, milk shakes, pizza, and sandwiches.

A Starbucks is on-site, in addition to lobby and pool bars to which I must add there were 8 baristas working in the morning! Splendid!! Especially when you really need your coffee fix!

Staying at Cabana Bay will help save your family money versus Universal’s deluxe on-site hotels– especially if you have six people in your party and can now occupy one family suite instead of two standard rooms – but there are trade-offs. First, and perhaps most importantly, guests staying on-site at Cabana Bay will not receive unlimited Express Pass access. This is the best benefit of staying at Portofino Bay, Hard Rock, or Royal Pacific (not to mention that complimentary Express Passes hold a value of up to $80.00 per person per day compared to buying them separately).

Guests at Cabana Bay will not have the option of using Universal’s water taxis to get to and from the parks. Instead, guests will have the option of (1) using shuttle buses or (2) walking. I think it will take 20 minutes to walk from Cabana Bay to the theme parks and I would not recommend it.

Guests staying at Cabana Bay Beach Resort will also not receive the benefit of priority seating at the full-service restaurants inside Universal’s theme parks or at CityWalk.

The advantages to staying at Cabana Bay Beach Resort include all the other standard on-site benefits for Universal Orlando guests:

Access to the other amenities at Universal’s deluxe on-site hotels, including the pool areas (this may change, so please verify at check in).

Oh, are you wondering about parking? Yes, Cabana Bay guests will have to deal with the biggest complaint about all of Universal’s on-site hotels: the per night self-parking fee. At Cabana Bay, it costs overnight guests $10.00 per night to park a car. For daytime guests, parking is $8.00 for up to 30 minutes, $20.00 up to 24 hours. Ouch!

Overall, it’s a brand new resort! Who doesn’t LOVE that?

The theme is great and the pools are not to be missed! For a Value property…in my book this one is Fantastic!